Magical Weddings (125 page)

“You scuba dive?”

“Yeah. For a couple of years now. I tried snorkeling on vacation one time and fell in love with being in the water with the fish, so when I got home I did the full deep sea training.”

“I had no idea. Leah never mentioned you were into that sort of thing.”

She sipped her drink. “Why would she? You and I haven’t exactly been best friends over the last few years.”

“True. So what else do you do for fun? As I recall, your evenings and weekends in college consisted mostly of sorority fundraising and parties.”

“Oh, the good old carefree days of college.” She laughed. “Well, I don’t do a lot of fundraising anymore, but I still see my sorority sisters once a month or so. And I’m afraid I don’t party as much as I used to. I scuba dive as often as I can, and I love to go to the movies. Every couple of weeks I get together with friends for a girl’s night.”

Max set his empty martini glass on the table and flagged over a waitress to order another for each of them. He reclined against the back of the seat and twisted slightly so he was facing her more directly. “What kind of movies do you like?”

“I’ll see almost anything, but my favorite are zombie flicks. The scarier the better.”

“So you like to be scared. Interesting… Spider!”

She shrieked at his outburst and felt something on her shoulder. She twisted and swatted at it only to find his fingers crawling up her skin. She turned back to face him, her eyes narrowed and her jaw set into a hard edge.

“That is
not
funny,” she said, then smacked him on the thigh for good measure.

He chuckled. “It
was
funny actually. The look on your face was priceless.”

“I’ll tell you what’s not priceless—the hospital bill when I push you off this balcony if you ever do that again.”

His fingers trailed a path up and down her spine and little goose bumps rose on her flesh despite the heat of the night. Her gaze went to his lips, knowing that if she kissed him right now, he’d taste just as good as her drink had. Probably better. Suddenly her mouth went dry and she licked her lips.

The urge to kiss him threatened to overthrow her willpower. Every fiber of her being begged to feel his lips on hers again. She inched forward slightly, drawn to him. What was the harm in one little kiss? They’d already had one today. Surely a second didn’t count.

Survive one get one free, right?

“There you two are,” Leah said, rushing up to them. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere. We’re beat and ready to call it a night but didn’t want to head up to the rooms without knowing where you guys were.”

Leah’s gaze went to Max’s lap and her eyes nearly bulged out of her face. Jenna couldn’t imagine what was so outstanding about Max’s groin, so against her better judgment, she looked.

Huh.

Her hand. A mere inch from Max’s penis.

Okay then.

Quickly extracting her hand from Max’s general penile area, she grabbed her bottle of water instead. Apparently she needed to drink more of it. A lot more. Like enough to drown a fish and wash away the fact that she’d just felt up Max’s thigh.

“So you’re here,” Leah said, pointing at them individually while her eyes darted back and forth between them and a grin bloomed on her lips. “And you’re there. And we’re going. So we’ll see you both tomorrow. Or today, I guess, since it’s technically already tomorrow. So…um…have fun with…whatever it was you were doing. Or about to do. Or were thinking of doing next.”

With that, Leah darted away practically skipping.

Jenna picked up the new martini a waitress had delivered, at some point, and chugged it. Screw water. She needed alcohol, STAT. A clear head would not help her deal with the aftermath of Max and his penis and her hand and…

Groping Max was
not
on my to-do list today.

“So,” Max said, picking up his drink and taking a casual sip, unlike her enormous gulp. “Where were we?” His gaze darted down to the area of his body that had been the topic of attention.

“We were just leaving, I think. With the rest of our friends.”

“But we’re not done with our drinks yet. Let’s stay until we finish them, then we’ll head back, too. Deal?”

“Sure. Why not?” With three large gulps she drained her drink, then put her empty glass back on the table. “Done.”

Her head spun as if she’d just gotten off a roller coaster. She grabbed the edge of the bench to steady herself. “Whoa.”

“Whoa is an understatement.”

Jenna slowly turned her head, afraid that she’d get even dizzier if she moved too quickly. Her hand wasn’t gripping the edge of the bench seat like she’d thought. Oh no. She’d grabbed a nice chunk of Max’s thigh again. As if her mind needed more confirmation than what her eyes were already providing, she involuntarily squeezed her hand. His large leg muscles tensed as he sat forward and wrapped a hand under her hair to stroke the nape of her neck with his warm fingertips.

“Are you okay? You looked like you got a little dizzy when you chugged your drink.”

“I didn’t chug anything.” She had but she wasn’t about to admit that to him, nor would she admit she was bothered by his proximity to her body. Or that she was bothered by him being close enough to kiss her again, if only he’d lean in and go for it. Or bothered even more that she wanted him to. “I don’t chug. Chugging is unladylike.” She burped.

He smirked. “My mistake.”

She was about to remove her hand from his thigh—having mentally confirmed that she was actually groping him again—but before she could, he placed his hand over hers, trapping it.

Was he always this cute?

Once again, for the hundredth time today, the urge to kiss Max flared to life inside of her. Maybe it was the wedding, or maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was that they hadn’t been alone together in years, but something about Max drew her to him. He was damn near completely irresistible.

“I don’t know what it is, but ever since kissing you on that boat, I haven’t been able to stop wanting to kiss you again,” he said.

She bit her lower lip to keep herself from agreeing with him.

“And judging by the way you keep touching me, I think you might feel the same way.”

“I…” She paused to lick her lips.

What did she want? The growing ache of need low in her belly told her she wanted one thing, but her brain argued for something else. What was she supposed to listen to?

Max didn’t give her a chance to answer. Instead, he brushed his lips against hers and she gasped at how amazing his lips felt. His tongue swept across the seam of her lips as if asking permission to enter. Ignoring her better judgment, she granted him passage. A second later his tongue explored her mouth and she couldn’t stop her hand as it traveled up his thigh.

The noise of the club quieted. The heat of the night became a gentle cooling breeze on her overheated skin. The only thing in her world was the taste of Max. And he tasted so good she never wanted to stop kissing him.

“Let’s go,” Max said after breaking their kiss with haste. He pulled her to her feet and through the club.

Max couldn’t bring himself to speak in the elevator during the ride down to their floor. Nothing he wanted to say to Jenna could be voiced in public with an audience listening, and currently the small space was filled with other partiers. Some were barely conscious and hopefully finding a way to their rooms. Others were still raring to go and most likely on route to the next club.

He couldn’t wait to get out of the throngs of people and into the quiet of his room. Of course, he hoped it wouldn’t be too quiet. There was one voice he wanted to hear in there with him—Jenna’s. Hopefully she’d be panting his name and scraping her nails down his naked back.

Whatever it was about her today that got him hard, he had no idea. He only knew he couldn’t ignore it. The desire to be with her, have her wrapped in his arms was overwhelming. Everything about her intoxicated him and it had nothing to do with the alcohol he’d drank.

When they got off the elevator, he pinned her with his gaze, refraining from the urge to press her against the wall instead. The thought of feeling her body pressed along every inch of his was more inebriating than the liquor he’d consumed.

The time to decide how they’d spend the rest of their night—together or alone—was now. If they went their separate ways, she’d go left and he’d head right. He knew that’s what he should encourage her to do for both of their sakes. But he couldn’t. He wanted to spend the night with her, possibly more than he’d ever wanted anything else. Her touch on his leg had made his dick hard and the feeling of wanting to be inside her hadn’t dissipated yet. He worried it never would.

“I know I shouldn’t ask this of you because of our history together, but I just can’t help myself tonight. I don’t know why, but I can’t get you off my mind. Every time I’m near you this feeling, whatever it is, gets stronger, deeper, more intense. Damn it, Jenna. I want you. I
need
you.”

She peered up at him and bit her lower lip, like she’d done earlier and the urge to kiss her sent a shot of fire to his groin. If she said no, he’d go to bed with the worst case of blue balls known to mankind. If she said yes, he couldn’t wait to ravish her.

“I don’t know why either, but I feel it too.”

He didn’t wait to hear more. His lips were on hers in an instant, parting them and taking what he wanted, demanding she give whatever she could. Jenna clenched his shirt in her fists, pulling him closer while she arched her back and ground her hips into his. She moaned into his mouth when his rock hard length pressed against her. Her body rubbed him seductively through their clothes and sent his mind reeling.

“My room. This way.” He pulled her by the hand down the hall and into his room. In seconds he had her on the bed, his body hovering over her.

She pushed her hands against his chest stopping his descent. “This could be a really bad idea. What happens in the morning?”

Max settled his hips between her bent knees; fully enjoying the look of lust and fluttering eyelashes that responded to the pressure he put on her hot center. “This doesn’t feel like a really bad thing, does it?”

She shook her head and her resistance on his chest lessened slightly. “No. It feels right somehow. Why do you feel so good?” she asked in a whisper, almost as if she were afraid of the answer.

“Because you want me too, babe,” he said, shifting against her again. She wriggled beneath him as if needing more contact. He’d be happy to oblige as soon as she gave him the green light.

“In the morning,” he said, “we’ll acknowledge what will surely be a fantastic night and then go on with the rest of the weekend as usual. Things happen here—things that don’t need to be thought about or worried over later.”

“So this thing between us tonight will just be something that happened, like we’re a cliché?”

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, babe.” Max grinned and inched closer to her. “I’m okay with cliché if you are?”

“What the hell,” she sighed. She slipped her hands up to his shoulders and pulled him down on top of her, meeting his mouth eagerly. When her legs wrapped around his waist, he practically growled with desire.

“Thank God you said yes,” he said against her mouth.

“What would you have done if I’d said no?” she asked, pulling back enough to look him in the eye.

“Cry. Walk you to your room. Beat off in the shower. Probably in that order.”

“Sounds like fun,” she giggled.

He didn’t think the prospect of a night alone was very funny when he could have Jenna. Good thing he didn’t have to worry about that now. He climbed off of her and quickly removed his clothes until only his boxer briefs remained. Then it was her turn.

“I promise this will be much more exciting for both of us.”

****

Jenna tried to catch her breath, but every time Max kissed her inner thigh, the air caught in her throat. The stubble on his jaw was rough and scratchy and so unbelievably sexy. She trembled with each press of his hot lips on her skin.

The closer he got to her center, the harder it was to stay still. She wanted him—no
needed
him—to satisfy her intense desire soon, or she feared she might implode. When was the last time she’d been so hot for anyone?

Not since the last time she’d been with Max. No one had ever compared to him—sexually or in any other way, actually. She’d dated a couple of guys since Max, but none of them had lived up to the high standard he’d inadvertently set.

Max’s tongue skimmed across her most sensitive flesh and all other thoughts evaporated from her brain. There was only here and now, nothing else. Every stroke made waves of pleasure ripple through her body from her toes to the top of her head. Her entire body felt alive, humming with ecstasy she’d never experienced.

He was even better at this than she remembered.

She cried out his name as the next wave carried her over the edge of oblivion, leaving her quaking with aftershocks. “That was…”

She tried to focus her thoughts into words, but came up with a tangled mess of nonsense. Words of appreciation couldn’t adequately describe the feeling of intense pleasure he’d given her.

Better she show her gratitude by reciprocating.

He kissed her stomach, then made his way to her breasts, taking one taut bud into his mouth and teasing it with his teeth. Just when she thought she was satisfied, he went and brought on a whole new surge of desire.

Running her hands through his short hair, she tried to pull him up to kiss her, but he only moved his attention to her other breast, ignoring her request. She’d be mad at him, except he made her feel too good to voice a complaint.

“I can’t leave before I sample this one too,” he muttered against her skin. “What if it felt hurt and neglected?”

“It’s a boob. It doesn’t have feelings,” she said, pulling on him again. She wanted to kiss him so he’d feel all the passion he’d stirred up inside of her.

“Really?” he asked.

Just then, a mix of pain and pleasure tore through her as he bit down on her nipple and gave it a tender tug with his teeth. The sensation made her gasp for breath. It was so good, so damn hot. She’d never been more turned on.